AHL-I-BATIN
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INTRODUCTION
The Ahl-i-Batin, or Subtle Ones, are the living embodiment of the highest accomplishments of Muslim culture - philosopher-naturalists who seek the hidden Unity that underlies all things. Masters of the intricate patterns that make up God's creation, the Ahl-i-Batin fulfill a variety of functions in their native lands: scientists, explorers, diplomats and even assassins when necessary. The Subtle Ones use their remarkable understanding of connections to move about as few mages can, seeing and doing things that others cannot. Possessing knowledge of interest to all who have magical power, the Ahl-i-Batin are nevertheless shunned and viewed with suspicion, sometimes even among their own peoples. Their vision, which transcends the here and now and seeks to find common- ality in all things, sparks the very divisiveness the Subtle Ones strive to overcome.
BACKGROUND
No one — not even the wisest sages of the Ahl-i-Batin — knows how old the sect truly is. Tradition among the Batini holds that their history stretches back untold thousands of years into the past. There is no proof of such vintage, but it is held none-the-less for the Subtle Ones believe that the current incarnation of the sect is the re-founding of a much older one that died out millennia before.
The greatest of the Batini sacred texts, the Mushaf al-Isra (or "Great Book of Passage Through Night") claims that the Subtle Ones are fragments of a powerful entity known as die Kamil, or "Perfected One." For reasons that are unclear, the Kamil had no contact with the world for thousands of years. It was during this time that the original Ahl-i-Batin ceased to be. Then, one night in 514 B.C. — known as the Night of Fana — the Kamil returned to the world and the Batini along with it.
Of' course, the sect didn't spring into being immediately. Rather, it was the result of a combination of factors that, according to the Batini, reveal their Doctrine of Unity in action. On the Night of Fana, there was a great conflict. Adherents of two warring magical traditions fought against one another, with one group pursuing the other into a vast, green meadow where the others expected to destroy their foes. The hunted mages found that the meadow was already inhabited by another group of adepts, whom the Batini call the Darwushim. While waiting for their pursuers to arrive, the hunted mages joined the Darwushim in a magical ritual of dance and motion, one that summoned an entity which would become known as the Khwaja al-Akbar.
The Khwaja al-Akbar was the fusion of two men, one from each magical group involved in the ritual. Suffused with power, the Khwaja al-Akbar spoke and affected the world around itself. For a few moments, all of Space became one and Unity was achieved among all the men and women present at this event. Space broke down and became one in a moment of ecstatic union that has never been repeated since. During the event, the Kamil, freed once more, manifested itself in everyone present. Then, the Khwaja al-Akbar disappeared and the men who composed it returned to their former selves. Yet they, like everyone else present, were changed forever. Their original affiliations meant nothing compared to the greater Unity they had experienced. The Ahl-i-Batin were born.
The newly formed ones "Interior Ones" spent the next few hundred years establishing themselves throughout the lands of China, India and Persia, although they proved most successful in Persia. There, they established six distinct schools, called khanaqas, each of which taught its students a different aspect of the Unity the sect hoped to achieve. These early Batini became deeply involved in many aspects of Persian life. In particular, they were revered as masters of self-discipline and sought out as teachers of both etiquette and diplomacy. The Batini also became involved in politics and attempted to institute reforms within the Parthian administration that would lead to greater unity. These reforms were partly successful and culminated in the formation of the Neo-Persian, or Sassanid, Empire in the third century A.D.
In its efforts to achieve Unity, some Ahl-i-Batin looked in unusual places. One such Batini was Ishaq al-Jannani who, around A.D. 100, began to cooperate with the Nif'ur en' Daah, an Infernalist sect of mages. Unfortunately, 3shaq becomes so enamored of the Infernalists' ways that he adopted them, renaming himself Ishaq al-Iblis. He became the first Devil King and turned against the Subtle Ones — violently. In the process of his own corruption, he did the same to the khanaqa he led, which soon ceased to be part of the Ahl-i-Batin forever.
In order to defend themselves against this new threat from within, the Batini leadership created the Qutbs, who used their powerful mind -reading magic to monitor the thoughts of Batini. The Qutbs rose to prominence as the sect grew and eventually became judges within it. A few decades later, the Ahl-i-Batin authorize the training of assassins to he used against their corrupt brethren. So successful arc these assassins that their abilities enter legend — and sully the good name of the sect in the eyes of some outsiders.
The Ahl-i-Batin never-the-less soldiered on in their quest to influence cultures and societies toward Unity, According to Batini tales, a Qutb encountered a certain man and saw in him a great destiny, although he possessed no magical ability. This man, who would become known to history as the Prophet Muhammad, wrote a holy book, the Qur'an, after receiving its words from God through the agency of the angel Gabriel. The religion he founded — Islam - had many beliefs in common with the Doctrine of Unity and in tact spread those beliefs throughout the world, far better than the Ahl-i-Batin ever had.
Some Batini would later claim that no unenlightened merchant could have founded Islam without magical assistance. Stung by the realiza tion that the Prophet had succeeded in preaching Divine Unity better than they, these reactionary mages simply refused to accept that their Fellowship did not have some hand in the founda- tion of Islam. The current majority, however, accept what seems obvious to them —that God Himself chose an ordinary man to spread the Doctrine of Unity not through the esoteric learning of the Ahl-i-Batin but through the simple beauty of a new religion. Instead of claim- ing credit for the intervention of the godhead in bringing
